


what about all the broken happy ever afters?

by darkrosemind



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Some Descriptions of Violence, bi character(s), dianetti
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-11
Updated: 2019-06-11
Packaged: 2020-04-24 17:06:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19177672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkrosemind/pseuds/darkrosemind
Summary: They find Rosa's body weeks later, in the back of an alley, broken and bruised. And no one talks about the night that everything had happened for months; no one can bring themselves to remember and recount the way Rosa had been torn away from them, and the way that Gina had been hurt.But they have to. They have to figure out what exactly had happened that night, andwhyit had happened





	what about all the broken happy ever afters?

**Author's Note:**

> this story literally has no point whatsoever lol

The only thing that Gina can remember from that night is the screaming. She lays in her hospital bed as still as a sloth, staring up at the ceiling with dull eyes. Rosa’s guttural screaming rips through her mind, tearing away at her eardrums and biting at her heart. She remembers Rosa’s frantic cry for help; the spray of blood that splatters across Gina’s body as she falls, and the smell of the salty air that mixes with the metallic scent of blood.

Gina turns over in her cot with a grunt, coming face to face with Jake Peralta. As soon as she sees his face, Gina snarls and turns away. She braces herself to hear his voice, and just as she expects, he starts speaking with his voice heavy with concern. 

“Come on, Gina,” he pleads. “It’s been days and you haven’t talked to anyone.” He pauses for a moment, and Gina can hear the crinkling of plastic and paper. “I brought you flowers. I know it’s not much of anything, and it’s not even close to making everything okay, but  _ please. _

“I want to tell you that everything’s going to be okay, but I’m so sorry that I can’t promise you that. But I promise, Gina, we’re still looking for her and we’re trying  _ so _ hard to find her.”

Gina knows that everything that’s happening isn’t easy for Jake, but he’s not feeling that exact pain that Gina’s feeling. It’s devouring her alive; it’s dulling her senses and trying to wish the world away because Gina doesn’t want to live in a Rosa-less world— 

Her eyes fall shut and her breath comes up rapidly as the heart monitor quickens. Jake flies to her side, abandoning the flowers and grasping her hand in his own. It’s something about the human touch that makes Gina want to throw up, but it somehow calms her down until her heart is beating at a steady pace. She looks up at Jake with tired eyes, sniffling slightly before shutting her eyes and turning over.

The next time Gina drifts back into consciousness, she hears Amy and Charles talking in hushed voices. Against her will, Gina’s ears strain to listen to the conversation, and she can catch bits of what they’re saying. She tries to block them out, but it’s too late because she’s already hearing them reviewing the details of the case. They’re talking about Rosa.

Tears leak out of Gina’s eyes, and she tries to cover up her sniffles, but a hiccup racks through her entire body and alerts Charles and Amy to her consciousness. They rush to her side, and the last thing Gina remembers is the soothing sound of Amy’s voice, and her had stroking through Gina’s hair.

As the days go by, the mountain of cards and flowers and candy stacks up in the hospital room. Gina can’t even look at it. It’s too bright and colorful and nothing about the world is bright and colorful right now. She turns away from everyone and everything because the whole entire world is numb. Gina’s never been more thankful for beige hospital walls. If they would have been a brighter color, then Gina surely would’ve puked.

She doesn’t want to leave the hospital. They say that she’s getting better; that she’s ready to leave the hospital, but Gina doesn’t  _ feel _ better. She wants  _ nothing _ except to lie in the hospital bed, turn away from the sunlight streaming in through the window, and sleep through all of the days to avoid feeling because there’s no point to feeling. Not when she’s still here and Rosa’s gone.

Rosa.  _ Rosa. _ Rosa.  _ Rosa. _ Rosa.  _ Rosa.  _ Rosa.  _ Rosa.  _ Rosa.  _ Rosa.  _ Rosa.

The name echoes through Gina’s mind late at night, haunting her. She sees Rosa’s face in her dreams; Rosa’s silhouette running towards her and shouting her name in the blissful void of Gina’s mind; taking Gina’s face in her hands and laughing brightly because it’s just them—

Her eyes flutter open with a gasp to see the doctor peering over her. “Miss Linetti,” he says with concerned eyes, “you are all cleared to go home. Your friend, Mr. Peralta, has signed you out and will be taking you home. Here are your clothes.” He thrusts a package at her, and Gina takes it. She looks over to the side of the hospital room to see that the mountain of cards and flowers has disappeared.

Gina sighs softly and gets out of the cot. It feels strange— the air hits her bare legs and sends chills down her spine. Everything is so monotonous after that. She can’t even bring herself to look at the clothes she’s wearing— freshly laundered, but they’re still the same clothes from  _ that night.  _

She takes a deep breath and sits down on the hospital bed, waiting for whatever’s next. A few moments later, the door creaks open. She looks up, expecting to see Jake, but instead, Captain Holt briskly rushes into the room. Gina stares at him as he makes eye contact with her, and urgent look in his eyes.

“Gina,” he begins, blinking back a few tears, “it’s Diaz.”

Gina’s eyes widen, expecting the worst.

“We found her.”

The day Gina gets released from the hospital, Rosa gets admitted in. Her body was found in the back of an alley, they said, bruised and broken and scarred and beaten. She barely had a pulse— they were lucky to have found her when they did. 

Holt guides Gina out of the hospital room to go see Rosa. She walks beside him numbly, staring at her shoes as they press against the white tiled floor. Soon enough, Holt pushes open the door of a hospital room and puts his arm around Gina as he leads her in. She looks up from the ground, not to see Rosa, but Jake.

He’s sitting at Rosa’s bedside, sobbing. Tears run down his cheeks and he profusely wipes them away as he looks up to see Holt and Gina. 

Something just breaks inside of Gina when she sees Jake cry. He’s her best friend. She’s seen him cry over scraped knees and overpriced sneakers, and she’s seen him cry over broken hearts and his dad leaving, but she’s  _ never _ seen him cry like he’s crying right now.

Gina walks over to Jake, refusing to look at Rosa as she sits down next to him. She wraps him up into a hug until they’re both crying, sobbing into each other’s shoulders and sniffling. “She’s gonna be okay,” Jake whispers in a cracked voice. “Full recovery. They said full recovery.”

Upon hearing this, Gina chokes on relief as she rests her head on Jake’s shoulder. She closes her eyes as he hugs her tights, and what few tears are left in her system trickle down her face and drip into her lap.

At some point, Amy comes in, and the three of them sit by Rosa’s bedside together, without actually looking at Rosa. Gina tries to brace herself to take a look, but she just can’t bring herself to, because she’s  _ scared _ of whatever’s there. And then Jake and Amy leave, and Gina’s left all alone in the haunting hospital room, surrounded by all of her demons that are threatening the both of them.

Finally, Gina peers through her fingers and takes one hard look before she whips her head away.

Lifeless. Bruised. Beaten. Pale. Rosa is broken.

Gina doesn’t know what she had expected. Rosa’s name blurs through her mind again, ripping apart her brain and her heart. It screams at her. Rosa.  _ Rosa. _ Rosa.  _ Rosa.  _ Rosa.  _ Rosa.  _ Rosa.  _ Rosa.  _ Rosa.  _ Rosa. _

Gina curls up on the chair next to Rosa’s cot. She closes her eyes, trying to find sleep to clear her mind, but it doesn’t come. She lies wide awake in the darkness, listening to the beep- _ beep _ of Rosa’s heart monitor. It stays strong and steady, which is reassuring, because Rosa never been anything but strong and steady. Gina keeps that in mind as she slips into unconsciousness.

She sees Rosa in her dreams again. Rosa limps towards her, with determined eyes and a clenched jaw. Her body is bruised; scarred, just like it is right now. She pulls something from the pocket of her leather jacket, and Gina watches as she crouches on the floor— no, dips down onto one knee and hold up a box— 

The sound of a rough cough jolt Gina back into reality as she sleepily opens her eyes. Her mind tries to hold onto the dream, but it slips through her grasp and Gina is left to mull over the pieces of the puzzling dream that are left for her. And then she doesn’t remember anything at all except for the fact that Rosa was in it—

_ Rosa. _

A cough racks through Rosa’s body and she violently tosses and turns in the bed. Gina’s hand flies to Rosa’s arm, trying to reassure the unconscious woman. 

“Rosie,” Gina begins in a broken voice, “it’s me. I don’t know if you can hear me, but you’re  _ okay. _ You’re gonna be okay. I’m here. I’m right here.”

And just like that, it soothes Rosa as she settles into the bed, her body still.

Gina stays in the hospital for nearly a month. She sits in her chair most of the day, holding Rosa’s hand and talking to her and telling her stories. Jake and Amy bring her clothes, and Charles brings them food. Nearly everyone comes to visit— Charles brings Nikolaj and Terry brings Ava and the twins and Holt and Kevin pop by with Cheddar. It’s only when Rosa’s parents and sister come to see her that Gina leaves the room. She wanders around the hospital lobby, waiting for Rosa’s parents to leave so that she can go back and tell Rosa a story or something.

And an hour later, Rosa comes to. She blinks profusely through the bright sunlight streaming in through the window as she peers up at Gina, who is suddenly sobbing. Gina’s tears drip down onto Rosa’s face as she takes Rosa’s hand in her own.

Rosa coughs a few times, clearing her throat before trying to speak. “G,” she croaks, “what happened?”

It’s two days after Rosa is released from the hospital when Gina realizes that she hasn’t been active on social media. When she opens her Twitter, she sees that she’s lost about two-hundred followers, but she doesn’t really care.

They don’t talk about “what happened” for months afterwards. Rosa and Gina continue on with life like everything has been normal; waking up in the morning and going to work, having dinner together and watching a movie before going to sleep and starting everything all over again.

It’s some nights, however, when they’re forced to talk about it, when Gina jolts awake to the sound of Rosa’s screaming and Rosa wakes to Gina’s violent tossing and turning as they both dream of whatever had happened. Even then, it’s the bare minimum; a soothing hand on the other’s back, or a glass of water handed over before going back to sleep.

The nightmares become worse, though. Gina wakes up one night to Rosa sitting upright, sobbing as hard as Gina’s ever sen Rosa cry. Rosa wakes up one night to Gina curled up into a tight ball, screaming into her knees.

Finally, Gina breaks the silence one night while they sit on the couch and have dinner. As soon as she brings up “that night”, the air grows icy and the tension in the room thickens. “We have to talk about what happened,” Gina says. “We can’t keep on avoiding it.”

Rosa coughs and looks away. She puts her plate down on the coffee table in front of them before turning back to Gina. “What is there to talk about?” she asks in an odd voice, refusing to meet Gina’s eyes.

“Everything,” Gina says. “What happened, and  _ why _ it happened. I know you’re not sleeping well, and neither am I, so I think we have to talk about it.” 

Rosa leans forward and grabs the glass of wine sitting in front of her. She slowly brings it to her lips and drains the whole glass before looking back at Gina.

Gina crosses her arms. “Rosie, that wine is nonalcoholic. We  _ have _ to talk,” she says, silently begging Rosa with wide eyes. 

Rosa sighs and puts the empty glass back onto the table. “Okay,” she finally gives in. “What do you want to know?”

“Who were they?” Gina asks. “Why were they after you?” She notices as Rosa’s whole body tenses up, and reaches out to grab Rosa’s hand.

“They were… the mafia, essentially,” Rosa sighs. “They wanted to kill me because I had information on one of their members. Information that could, you know, bring down their whole chain of operation.” She grips GIna’s hand tightly, until her knuckles turn pale.

“But they didn’t kill you,” Gina says, leaning forward. She scoots closer to Rosa.

Rosa lets out a short and harsh laugh. “Yeah, because I got lucky. They left me for dead.” She lets Gina pulls her close, closing her eyes as Gina presses a kiss to her forehead.

“What did they do to you?” Gina whispers softly, cupping Rosa’s cheek with one hand.

Rosa shrugs, blinking a few times before answering. “I… I don’t know. I don’t remember. Or I don’t  _ want _ to remember?” She takes Gina’s wine glass and down it. “You know, the standard torturing. They tied me up. Hurt me.” She blinks rapidly a few more times, trying to refrain from crying. “What do  _ you _ remember?”

“Not much,” Gina says. “The boat— they were on the boat. And they shot you?”

“Stabbed me,” Rosa corrects. “They stabbed me.”

“Your blood was all over me,” Gina says. A tear rolls down her cheek and she sniffles, hiding her face in Rosa’s shoulder. After a moment, she lifts her head and continues talking. “And then they shot me. They hurt me and I think they threw me overboard. I remember… I remember waking up on the beach and then in the hospital.”

And suddenly, Rosa’s crying as well. “I didn’t know they hurt you,” she murmurs, hugging Gina close. “They said— they  _ promised _ that they didn’t hurt you.” In a fit of rage, Rosa grabs one of the empty wine glasses and throws it across the room. It shatters. “Liars,” Rosa says through clenched teeth. “They hurt you.”

“They told you that they didn’t hurt me?”

“Yeah, they did.” Rosa wipes her face with her hands. “That was the only thing that kept me going, G. Knowing that you were out there somewhere, safe and waiting for me.” 

“I’m okay now. Besides, they hurt you way more,” Gina says, pulling Rosa closer. Rosa rests her head in the crook of Gina’s neck, closing her eyes and taking deep breaths. 

“I should’ve known that they were coming for me,” Rosa mumbles. “I should’ve known. Kept you safe, at least. I’m so sorry.”

“It was supposed to be a romantic night,” Gina says, biting her lip. “You rented a fucking boat for me.”

“Yeah,” Rosa says. “I did, but it all turned upside-down. Everything got ruined. You got hurt because of me.” She pulls her legs up and tucks them on the couch, looking at Gina through tears.

“It’s not your fault,” Gina says. “I— just, the whole boat thing—”

“I was going to fucking propose to you,” Rosa says suddenly. 

Gina stares at her. Her throat clams up and she just nods. A shiver racks through her body and tears spill out, because Rosa was going to propose to her? Months had passed since that night.

“I had everything perfectly planned,” Rosa continues. “I should’ve known—”

“Would you still do it?” Gina interrupts. “Would you still propose to me?”

“Gina—” Rosa sits up straight, rummaging through the pockets of her leather jacket. “I have carried this ring every fucking day, trying to build up the courage to ask you after all that’s happened. I would marry you in a heartbeat if you wanted me.” She pulls out a small black box, and Gina’s dream comes rushing back to her.

The small black box Rosa pulled out of her pocket in her dream is the same one that Gina had seen in her sleep months ago. Rosa dipping down on one knee and opening up the box, looking hopefully up at Gina— 

“Yes,” Gina breathes out. “Let’s get fucking married. Elope. Not tell anyone.”

Rosa stares at Gina. “Are you sure? You— you don’t seem like the time to elope and  _ not tell anyone. _ Besides, it’s alright if you don’t want to, because I know we’ve both seen so much shit in the past few months—”

“Fucking marry me, Diaz. That’s the  _ least _ you could give me,” Gina interrupts, rolling her eyes. 

Rosa passes the box over to Gina, who pries it open slowly. The ring glints at her; a thousand minuscule diamonds glowing up at her, set on a dainty little band meant just for Gina’s finger. She pulls it out and sets it on her finger. “It’s beautiful.”

“I know,” Rosa says, peering at Gina with a soft expression on her face. “That’s why I got it for you. And— I know getting married isn’t gonna fix everything—”

“Fuck you,” Gina mumbles, leaning forward and wrapping Rosa up into a kiss. “Fuck you.” She stares into Rosa’s eyes and weaves her hand into Rosa’s hair. “I don’t want anything else, okay? We’re gonna fix everything, okay? We’re gonna have a happy ever after.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> anyways if u read this i love you


End file.
